Tag Archives: Holland

The in basket: Several weeks ago, Laura Turner e-mailed to say
the the area around Central Valley Road, McWilliams Road, 64th
Street and Holland Road is a dangerous zoo, especially around
school quitting time and the afternoon rush hour. She said
Olympic High School students use Holland and 64th as a short cut to
McWilliams.

Central Valley and McWilliams had been identified in a Kitsap
Sun article a year ago as the 12th most accident prone county
intersections.

“We need speed humps on Holland and a crosswalk at the minimum
at Central Valley and McWilliams,” Laura said. “There are accidents
at this intersection several times a year, yet the country refuses
to do anything to help the local residents. Why is
this? ”

I spent some time a couple of afternoons watching this
intersection during the last weeks of the school year and had to
tell Laura that it seemed unexceptional. Traffic was not very
heavy, especially coming out 64th onto Central Valley. One school
bus let off one child some distance up McWilliams. I saw one
pedestrian, on a skateboard.

But since it was listed as among the county’s most accident
prone, I asked county Public Works if there are any plans to make
it safer. There’s no mention of it on the county’s six-year-road
plan, called the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP).

The out basket: County Traffic Engineer Jeff Shea says, “Last
year we proposed a project to construct a roundabout there.
It did not compete well against other projects and did not make it
to the TIP.

“The collision numbers at this intersection are trending down,”
he said, “and indications are that it will fall well below the top
ten collision intersections. In 2012 there were no reported
collisions at the intersection.”

The in basket: Mitch Hailey of Bremerton e-mailed two weeks ago
to protest the condition of Central Valley Road, including with his
message several photographs of ruts and pot holes left by a sewer
excavation between Alexis Drive and Holland Road.

“While
riding my motorcycle on this road and with no warning, I found
myself having to dodge one danger after another and coming very
close to dumping my bike,” Mitch said.

“Having
just survived a crash where an irresponsible dog owner allowed
their pet to play in the roadway unrestrained, I am very sensitive
to preventable dangers placing others at risk. Someone needs
to be providing oversight of these construction projects for
safety’s sake.”

The out
basket: Jacques Dean, Kitsap County’s project manager and the
overseer of this county project by Buno Construction, said he sent
the contractor copies of Mitch’s photos and ordered that more
attention be paid the condition of the road after each day’s
work.

The
workers are to make a daily patch of the road they disturb that
day, Jacques said, but weren’t taking enough time raking out the
hot asphalt mix before it was rolled. Rain and traffic produced the
conditions in Mitch’s photos.

The work
the day after Mitch wrote was a lot better, Jacques said.

Since
then, two readers have disagreed.

On
Oct.27, Sheldon Cherrey wrote, “Well, I traveled that road
last night. The road is worse than the

last
time I drove it. Possibly due to the rain “

And
Louis Oliver wrote Saturday to say he found “that a forest service
road that has not seen a grader in over two years would be the
smoother of the two. If it is the county that is doing the repairs
after the pipe is replaced, the job should be out-sourced. If a
contractor is doing the job, they should be fined and replaced.
Then I wonder who should pay for my dental work? Yes, it is that
bad.”

Tina
Nelson of the county, filling in for Jacques, who was away from
work last week, had this to say about the latest complaints:

“Last
week the contractor was directed to spend more time (and money …)
on maintaining the patch. I drove it yesterday, and I thought
it was an acceptable patch at the time.

“The
catch is that the patch is only temporary,” she said. “The same
trench needs to be dug up again to install the new force main,
starting the second week of November, over the gravity sewer that
has already been installed. It is our intent to keep the
patch safe, but at the same time be cost conscious.

“If
travelers go slow, allow the extra few minutes, or use an alternate
route, we will not be forced to spend additional precious dollars
on a temporary patch.

“Patience,” she urged. The final product, when the sewer
installation is complete, will be like a brand new road
surface. Permanent restoration in Central Valley Road is
currently scheduled to start in mid-December, which includes final
asphalt paving. Asphalt paving, of course, is weather
dependent.”